Washington, D.C.- Utah Senator Mike Lee (R), filed a bill today that would ban the use of federal funds for sex-reassignment research on minors.
Senator Lee’s Protecting Our Kids from Harmful Research Act bans public funding for any research into sex-reassignment surgery, gender affirming care, or related hormonal treatments.
Senator Lee was joined by Senators James Lankford (R-OH), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Steve Daines (R-MT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).
“This bill will protect taxpayers from funding spurious research, but more importantly, it will protect kids from the permanent damage this irresponsible research can produce,” said Senator Lee.
As an accentuation of the senators’ opposition to proponents of gender-fluid ideology, the bill explicitly states “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Senator Rubio chimed in, claiming taxpayer dollars “should not be funding gender transition research on children. Period.”
The federal government should not be funding gender transition research on children. Period.
Joined @SenMikeLee in introducing legislation to prevent federal funding from funding any of these "research" projects. https://t.co/jXiPXCIZUs
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) October 5, 2023
Gender-transition and transgender issues have garnered increased media attention as conservatives have resisted progressive attempts at normalizing transgenderism and gender reassignment.
A particularly contentious episode of political warfare played out last may, when President Joe Biden’s administration announced plans to make schools allow transgender women (biological men) compete in women’s sports.
Florida Senator Rick Scott and colleagues wrote a letter replying to the decision, alleging it counteracts Title IX’s founding mission.
“This proposed rule uses weakly-associated case law and polarizing social concepts to broaden the definition of women and girls to include individuals who identify as women, and in so doing, the intent of the law is destroyed and women are marginalized yet again,” read the letter.
The Education Department, after delaying the promulgation of the final rule over transgender athlete participation due to record-high public comments, is set to publish the rule this month.
